Friday, March 18, 2016 Volume 59, Number 8 Daily Bulletin 59th Spring North American Bridge Championships [email protected] Editors: Sue Munday and Brent Manley Paul Trent Cinderella Lian now in 1936 – 2016 Vanderbilt quarterfinal Paul Trent, two-time North American The team captained by Ruo Yang Lian, champion and one of the great characters of the originally seeded No. 59, advanced to the game, died Feb. 5. He was 79. quarterfinal round of the Vanderbilt Knockout Trent was a member of the winning squad in Teams with a dramatic victory over the No. 11 the Men’s Board-a-Match Teams (now the Mitchell seed, captained by Bart Bramley. Open Board-a-Match Teams) in 1969 and 1971. Lian had a slim lead with two boards to go, but He was also a member of the winning team in the the Bramley team engineered a 12-IMP swing by 1959 Marcus Cup, a two-session national event no making a vulnerable 4♠ in one room and defeating longer contested. it in the other. On the final board, however, Lian Trent was also a member of second-place and his partner, Yang Cai, bid and made 5♦ for plus teams in the 2012 Truscott USPC Senior Swiss 400 sitting East-West. At the other table, East- Paul Trent, second from left, with his Teams and the 2013 10K Swiss Teams. West defended 3♠, just making for plus 140. That Hall of Famer Bob Hamman was one of Trent’s teammates in the 2012 Truscott USPC Senior friends and a frequent opponent. Hamman recalled Swiss Teams. From left, Marty Scheinberg, continued on page 14 Howard Perlman, Sandy Trent and Jeffrey that in the 1966 Vanderbilt Knockout Teams, Starr captain Lew Mathe entrusted Hamman and Sami continued on page 4 Marinov, Yang leading in Silodor Open Pairs Horsing around Marin Marinov, New York City, and David The local organizing committee wasn’t horsing World War, the Yang, Darien IL will start today’s final two sessions around when they invited Barney –not the purple population of the of the Silodor Open Pairs with a lead of 31.57 dinosaur – to be the face of the Spring NABC. tiny town boomed matchpoints over a Polish pair – Piotr Nawrocki Tournament Co-chair Katherine Ewing to a population and Piotr Wiankowski. Top today is 90. explains that the wild mustang is the Nevada state of 13,000, most In third place are John Lusky, Portland OR, and animal. “They are protected and we chose the logo of them soldiers. Allan Falk, Okemos MI. to represent the mustang and fun, not just card When the El playing.” Capitan bar/casino The committee named their horse Barney after burned down in Hessel, Passell, lead Bernard E. “Barney” O’Malia, a casino owner, 1942, O’Malia got poker player and bridge player during the Nevada’s a $30,000 advance Smith Women’s Pairs Golden Age of gambling. and rebuilt it into Two Texans, Ellen Hessel and Nancy Passell, In the 1930s, the U.S. government sited what was reputedly will start play today in the Smith Life Master a munitions depot in the out-of-the-way town the nicest club in Women’s Pairs with a carryover lead of 1.69 of Hawthorne NV (135 miles from Reno and town. matchpoints on a 25 top. The event concludes 300 miles from Las Vegas). During the Second continued on page 5 today. Hessel lives in San Antonio, Passell in Plano, a Dallas suburb. Right behind the leaders are Russians Victoria Gromova and Tatiana Ponomareva, winners of the Gupta approaches bridge event in 2012 and runners-up in 2009 and 2014. In third are Cecilia Rimstedt, Sweden, and Sally with sights set high Meckstroth, Clearwater Beach FL. In 1998, “I thought we played extra well,” Vinita recalls. Vinita Gupta When the event was over, the excited Guptas went It’s Melville vs Darin and her husband, looking for the final standings, starting the search Naren, traveled for their names about halfway down the sheet. It in 10K Knockout to Reno to play wasn’t until they looked at the top that they found Teams captained by James Melville and Paul in their first their names – in first place. They had won 18 red Darin will face off in today’s final of the NABC NABC. They masterpoints. 10K Knockout. had fewer than “We were so ecstatic,” Vinita says. “We could Melville, of Springfield IL, is playing with 10 masterpoints not put our feet on the ground after that.” Vladislav Isporski, Sofia Bulgaria; Stephen each, so they That episode turned out to be a preview of the Stewart, Overland Park KS, and Mark Jones, played in a route Vinita Gupta would take in a bridge career Birmingham AL. couple of that has taken off in the past four years. Darin and teammates Mac Busby and Sam newcomer Under the guidance of Billy Miller, her Madison-Jammal are from San Diego. Leon Fisher games and regular partner and mentor, Gupta has foregone is from Oceanside CA. collected some competition in women’s events, concentrating on trophies. Without knowing much about it, they open championships. Her crowning achievement so ended up in a one-session open board-a-match continued on page 5 Goodwill Message teams. Accept defeat and victory with grace. Sandy DeMartino, chair ATTENDANCE through Thursday 9338 tables Ailieen Osofsky Goodwill Committee Page 2 Friday, March 18, 2016 Daily Bulletin SPECIAL EVENTS MEETINGS / SEMINARS / RECEPTIONS Friday, March 18 Sunday, March 20 11 pm-Midnight Women’s International Team Trials meeting. (Board Peter Pender Memorial Vugraph. (Room TBA) Room, mezzanine level) CELEBRITY SPEAKER PROGRAM Presented by the ACBL Educational Foundation Friday, March 18 Don’t miss these free lectures by some of the best-known 9:15 am Kevin Wilson Fitting Honors players in the game! Talks will be held in the Eldorado 6:45 pm Ellen Kent Parameters of Preempts Convention Center. Speakers and topics are subject to change. Saturday, March 19 9:15 am Barbara Seagram A Failure to Communicate 6:45 pm Hank Meyer Planning the Play at Notrump ENTERTAINMENT and HOSPITALITY Late-night snacks will be served at the Silver Legacy at 10:30 p.m. near the Saturday, March 19 Silver Baron Ballroom on the mezzanine level and at 11 p.m. at the Reno Silver Legacy’s famous sticky buns Ballroom. Friday, March 18 Sunday, March 20 Fruit and cheese kabobs Apples Bridge Bucks and check cashing Bridge Bucks and check cashing services will be available: Silver Legacy, mezzanine level Outside (to the left of) the Silver Baron rooms Saturday, March 14 – 9:30–10 a.m. and Saturday, March 19 Noon–1 p.m. Players may purchase Bridge Bucks using American Express in addition to VISA, MasterCard and Discover. There is a check cashing limit of $500 a day. Life Master news Fred Wills of Miami FL earned enough masterpoints in the Wednesday Flight Claire Jones, Albena Vassileva, Olivia Laufer and Leo Weniger A Pairs to move up Two seasoned 13-year-olds from Canada joined forces with two members of the ACBL Board of in rank to Diamond Directors to finish fourth in Bracket 2 of the Compact Knockout. District 18 Director Claire Jones and Life Master (5000+ District 1 Director Leo Weniger played with Albena Vassileva, from North Bay ON, and Olivia Laufer, masterpoints). His from Toronto ON. The girls have been playing for five and a half years. partner was Harriet Eaton Morris, also of Miami. Monitoring At this and future North American Championships, ACBL will be monitoring NABC+ events with visible, real-time cameras. The images will be recorded and available for later inspection and review by officials. By general monitoring of the session and participants’ behavior, ACBL has another source of information that may be useful in determining facts and settling issues arising from some types of ethical and behavioral complaints or actions. Please summon a director if a problem occurs at the table. This procedure is intended to assure everyone that the playing field is level and that misbehavior will not be tolerated. Masterpoint disclaimer Results reported in the Daily Bulletin are subject to change because of score changes or corrections. The masterpoint awards as shown are, therefore, also subject to change. Daily Bulletin Friday, March 18, 2016 Page 3 JUST FOR NEW PLAYERS “icy” are synonyms. Terminology “Closed hand” describes By Brent Manley the hand held by declarer. In the days before bidding boxes and the Stop “Double dummy” means card, an experienced player at a club duplicate with all hands in view. It is game had a hand that called for a jump bid. a high compliment to say a The player turned to his left-hand opponent, a player made a contract with newcomer, and said, “Skip bid – please wait.” “double dummy” play, as “What do you mean?” she said. The player though he could see all the explained that cards. she should pause To “play for the drop” for about 10 means to pass up the seconds so that opportunity for a finesse, her partner could hoping that the relevant card draw no inference – usually a queen – will fall from a fast pass when you play top cards, the or one after some ace and king when the card deliberation. you hope to drop is the queen. “Two This usually occurs when hearts,” said the declarer has seen enough man. With no high cards from one opponent pause at all, LHO to know he cannot hold the said, “Pass.” relevant card. “You didn’t wait 10 seconds,” he said.